Bentos
by Doctor Emmit Brown
Summary: LEMON Akane starts making lunch for herself and Ranma, and somehow, they're good! How on Earth did that happen? The answer surprises Ranma more than he ever thought.


"Here Ranma, I made a bento for you!"

Ranma turned in horror when he heard those eight words come out of his fiancée's mouth. If it were any of his other fiancées, he would have been overjoyed to take the offered lunch. Unfortunately, the girl in question was Akane, who had poisoned him more times than he cared to remember with one culinary disaster after another. The last thing he needed today was to spend the rest of the afternoon with his head in the toilet.

Akane rolled her eyes as she watched Ranma frantically trying to think up an excuse as to why he wouldn't be able to eat her lunch. "Okay, I admit, my cooking usually makes better paint thinner than food, but it's good this time! See?" She opened the box which was stuffed to the brim with a large variety of food, and popped a hotdog in her mouth. Ranma watched in amazement when she didn't immediately keel over from tasting, and yes even _swallowing_ her own food. He gingerly accepted the proffered box, and nervously stared at it

Akane sat down next to Ranma and pulled out her own lunch. Ranma looked over and noticed that it was identical to his own. "Did you make yours too?" he asked. It would be so much easier to refuse if it was on the grounds of being unfair since she had obviously gotten Kasumi to make her own.

"Uh huh!" came the enthusiastic answer, before she pulled her chopsticks apart and began eating her lunch with relish. Ranma watched her eat half of the box, fully expecting her to get sick at any time. Noticing, Akane rolled her eyes at him again. "Seriously Ranma, it's not going to kill you if you eat it. In fact, it's pretty good if I do say so myself!"

"Says you," he muttered under his breath. Breaking his own chopsticks apart, Ranma gingerly picked out a bit of omelet, and took a small bite. He opened his eyes when he realized that, yes, the food was indeed non-toxic, and for that matter, it actually _was_ pretty good after all. He chose a fried shrimp and tried it, wondering if the first bite was a fluke. No, that was good too. So was the rice, and the hotdog octopi. The entire meal was _actually_ good!

"Wow!" Ranma said under his breath. "This is as good as one of Kasumi's." He dove into his own lunch with equal relish, not noticing Akane's beaming face at his compliment. She felt like she was walking on air the rest of the day.

***---***

And so it went, Akane would make lunch for the two of them every day, and every day they were great. Ranma didn't know what had caused the change, but he was ecstatic over it. No longer would he have to put up with Akane giving him the doe eyes whenever she cooked something for him, and then to watch her face fall when he inevitably said no. No longer would he have to suffer through nights of endless cramping, since he would always give in to her demands in the end. No longer would he have to hide in fear whenever Kasumi felt too sick or tired to cook dinner. Plus, if they ever did get married, now he wouldn't have to do all the cooking!

At the same time though, Ranma was waiting for the other shoe to drop. How on Earth did Akane all of a sudden get so good at cooking? Lessons had never done anything to help her, even his own mother had all but given up on Akane as hopeless. Akane couldn't follow a recipe if her life depended on it. She always went too fast or tried too hard, or got too creative whenever she tried to cook. He couldn't help thinking back to the times when there was some sort of miracle change in Akane's abilities, and the fact that each one of them, the do-gi, the super soba, and the magic swimsuit, all ended in hijinks and resulted in Akane being back where she started. After having it so good for a while now, he doubted he'd be able to survive going back to having Akane destroying the kitchen again.

He was still pondering it when he got home from school that afternoon. Akane had had to stay behind to clean up the classroom, so he had walked home alone. He'd thought about asking Kasumi if she knew how Akane suddenly found her new talents in the kitchen, and was about to go do that when Akane came bursting through the door and ran up to her room, obviously crying.

What happened?Ranma was about to go upstairs to find out when Nabiki cut him off. "Not a good idea, Saotome," she said. "Akane had another cooking disaster at school this afternoon. Three boys had to be taken to have their stomachs pumped. She's taking it pretty hard considering this isn't the first time it's happened."

Ranma sighed heavily as Nabiki walked away. So there it was, he knew it was too good to be true. If he ever found out which god was up there messing with him like this, he'd have to have a few words with the guy before he totally beat his ass.

***---***

The next day, Ranma was nervous as he watched Akane approach him at lunch holding two bentos. He didn't say a word when she handed his to him, but refused to open it until he watched her take a bite. She was fine. What? What had happened between yesterday and today that she had lost and regained her ability to cook? Ranma shrugged and opened his box. Maybe there had just been an accident, some cleaner dripping in to her food from a leaky bottle without her noticing or something. Yeah, he was sure that was what had happened. You didn't just lose your ability to cook overnight like that. He paused. On the other hand, you didn't just _gain_ your ability to cook overnight either.

***---***

Ranma couldn't sleep. This thing with Akane's cooking was still on his mind. Tonight she'd attempted to make a side dish for dinner. Kasumi had been hesitant, but had allowed her to make a salad, figuring that it was awfully hard to mess that up. Akane proceeded to prove her wrong. Thankfully, she hadn't insisted on serving the disaster.

Why could Akane cook the bentos, but not anything else? It wasn't even that the bentos were the same every day, she always made sure to make different dishes , rarely making the same lunch twice. Obviously she was capable of making more than just one dish, why was it she could only _sometimes_ do it?

Suddenly he heard a noise out in the hallway. Someone was walking down the hall, trying to be quiet. He would have ignored it but whoever it was, was heading towards the stairs in the opposite direction of the washroom. He looked over at the clock on the wall. It was too early for it to be Kasumi going down to start breakfast, and too late for anyone to be getting themselves a midnight snack. Maybe it was a burglar?

Ranma decided he'd better find out. He silently got up from his futon, and crept out into the hall. He stood still for a moment to allow his eyes to get used to the pale moonlight coming in through the window, before stealthily going down the stairs.

There was a light on in the kitchen, and he heard and smelled something being cooked on a frying pan. Ranma sighed in relief. It's probably just Kasumi getting a head start on breakfast. Well, maybe he'd join her in the kitchen for a while. They could figure out this Akane thing together, and if nothing else, he'd get a snack out of it.

Ranma froze, standing in the doorway. His jaw dropped. He couldn't speak, he couldn't move, he couldn't do anything. Kasumi wasn't the one cooking in the kitchen, it was Akane. That in of itself wasn't that odd, it explained why nobody had seen her cook the meals Ranma had been eating for the past couple of weeks. No, what was so startling about it was what Akane was wearing: her birthday suit.

Suddenly Akane turned her attention from the omelet she was frying on the stove to something down the countertop. Ranma quickly jumped to the side of the doorway and hid against the wall. What the hell was going on? Why was Akane naked? Not that he minded seeing her like this, he'd never really thought he'd get another chance since the last time he'd seen her like this way back when they first met, but still, _why naked?_

Lying flat on his belly so that she wouldn't turn around and see him, Ranma took another look. Oh man, this was an even better view. She was only using the light of a single lamp to see by, and it was outlining her form in shadows, which subtly hid some of her features, but also accentuated others. It was downright erotic.

He shook his head hard, trying to clear it of all of the raging hormones, and tried to concentrate on just watching her. She was so intently focused on the task at hand that he doubted she'd notice him if he walked up right behind her. Her face was a mask of concentration, she was muttering instructions to herself, but there was something else there. Was it… fear?

Well, now he knew why she could cook his bentos, but nothing else. For some strange reason, Akane had to be naked to cook anything edible. But why? And how had she come up with such a crazy idea in the first place?

Ranma watched from his prone position on the floor for a few more minutes before he slithered back away from the door and stood to leave. It was then he realized he'd been lying on his erection, and how painful it had been. He tried a few deep breaths to calm down, but it was no use. He wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight. Figuring he may as well make the best of it, he snuck one more peek around the door at the nude cook. Getting one last good long look at her, he saw the light glistening on the inside of her thighs. So not only was she cooking naked, but it aroused her that much? Oh gods was he not getting any sleep that night.

***---***

Day after day, Akane would give Ranma his lunch, and night after night he'd watch her cook it. Ranma didn't know why he kept watching Akane cook, well ok he could name at least one reason, but it was only resulting in him losing more and more sleep as he had to deal with the raging hormones accumulated during the show. He was certain the ordeal was having the same effect on Akane as well, as he noticed her nodding off in some of their afternoon classes.

The more he watched her, the more Ranma thought he figured out why she did it naked in the first place: it gave her something other than the cooking to think about. She was so afraid about being caught that she was focused only on the cooking, rather than on comparing it with Kasumi or Nodoka. Of course, the other side of the coin was that the idea of potentially being caught seemed to turn Akane on like nothing else. It made Ranma's teeth ache with lust wondering what might happen if he were to reveal himself.

Of course the danger with that plan was that it would result in a free trip to Hokkaido via Air Hammer.

Ranma sighed in frustration. He knew there wasn't any way he was going to be able to break this endless cycle that would result in anything good, but his libido screamed for him to rush in there and take her in his arms, but from there it got kinda fuzzy. Sure he _wanted _the sexy figure in front of him, but then what?

Unfortunately, it seemed like fate had also grown tired of the stalemate. Akane had apparently heard the sigh, as her head whipped around to face the doorway. Ranma was barely able to pull his head away to avoid being discovered. As it was, his prone position made him slower to move than if he had been standing. Did she see him? He didn't know. He could hear her breathing become labored from fear, but he didn't hear any footsteps that would have indicated that she was coming to see who it was. Instead he heard the sound of Akane chopping up a vegetable.

It felt to Ranma like he'd just gotten away with murder. He took a deep, _quiet_ breath, and crept forward for one last look. He figured he was probably pushing his luck, but he had to make sure she wasn't going to follow him up to bed and smother him with his pillow. He carefully looked around the corner, and saw that she was still standing at the counter, and was indeed chopping daikon. But there was something different too. Ranma couldn't see her face, but he was sure she was blushing because her ears were bright red. Her legs were also shaking a little. Maybe she did know he was there, but then why wasn't he dead?

Akane reached over to put the knife back in the block, but it slipped and fell to the floor, thankfully sparing her toes. Akane let out a decidedly unladylike curse, before bending over to pick it up. The act of doing this though gave Ranma the best view yet, her vagina pushed into view, labia distended and full, and an obvious stream of excitement flowing from the lips. Ranma had to hold his nose lest it explode with blood. And was it his imagination, or did she remain in that pose for longer than she needed to?

***---***

The next night, Ranma hesitated before following Akane down to the kitchen. He was sure she'd seen him, and yet she'd not said anything at all the next day about it. She'd just handed him his bento and sat down beside him to eat. Although, her hotdogs sure were cut into weird shapes. His were the usual octopi, but hers kinda looked like… mushrooms? And he wondered if her had some sort of spice on them or something that his didn't have, because she was to savoring each one of them.

But he just couldn't resist. He'd spent about an hour in the bath that evening trying to quench the fires as it were, but he was a man in his prime, and it wasn't as if he was getting stimulation anywhere else. He didn't even want to think about what had happened when he'd tried to have some fun with Nabiki's computer…

Once again he stealthily took his position lying prone on the floor, his head peeking around the door jam. There she was again, standing at the stove, cooking what smelled like bacon. A pair of half iced cupcakes on the counter next to the stove. Ranma watched as Akane turned the burner down on the stove and turned her attention to the cupcakes. Leaning over the cupcakes with a spatula, she spread icing over the top of one, then the other. From his angle behind her, Ranma wasn't able to actually watch the act itself, but that was okay by him considering the view he was getting.

On the other hand, it also meant that he missed what happened while Akane was working on the second cupcake. Not used to her breasts being free to move around, one of Akane's breasts brushed the top of the cupcake, smearing the icing. Cursing under her breath, Akane tried to fix the cake, but there was still a bit of a divot at the peak. She was about to scoop out more icing, but she had an idea, and instead went into the fridge, pulling out a jar of maraschino cherries.

Ranma watched as Akane carefully placed the cherry in its place, smirking to himself when he noticed why she had to do it in the first place. He watched as Akane looked over at the paper towel roll, only to frown as the roll was empty. She sighed and leaned against the counter, giving Ranma a rare full frontal view. He pulled his head back just enough to keep from being seen, but still was able to watch as Akane took her breast, and raised it up to her mouth to lick it clean.

Ranma couldn't help himself. He let out a small groan at the erotic display. He panicked briefly as he waited for Akane to investigate the sound, but she didn't move towards him. Instead she turned back towards the cooking bacon. Ranma was relieved that he once again seemed to get away with murder, and was curious as hell about the small smile he saw on her face as she turned back to her cooking.

***---***

Ranma didn't know how he survived through the day. His bento had _the_ cupcake. He knew it was _that_ one because hers didn't have a cherry. He didn't _think_ there was a message in her giving him the cherry, but he'd overheard some of his buddies using it in sexual reference before. Never mind the childish fantasies of an "indirect kiss" when sharing a drink. This was indirect foreplay.

He couldn't help himself. He'd had a hard on all day long. Even Ma Thumb and the Finger Sisters couldn't help him. Ranma was so turned on he couldn't sleep. He lay there awake, waiting for Akane to go down to the kitchen. He didn't know what he was going to do when he got there, but he knew he had to go.

Akane was at her usual position at the counter, chopping up some vegetables to be put in a coleslaw. He could smell a fish frying in a pan on the stove which was supposed to be the main part of the meal. The lone light of the lantern casting shadows across the room, lighting Akane sensually. With everything that had happened up to this point, Ranma was no longer content to just lay prone and watch. He stood in the doorway, semi hidden by shadows, but out in the open. His own excitement was through the roof as he waited to be discovered.

Akane continued to chop up the cabbage for the slaw, but Ranma knew she could feel him there watching her. He was certainly giving off lust that he could feel it, and he was sure she could too. He watched as she squirmed in place, her thighs rubbing against each other. Ranma took a hesitant step towards her, aching to touch her naked flesh. He reached out a hand, but stopped just shy, afraid of what he was sure to be the consequence.

Suddenly Akane's hand slipped, and she jumped as she cut her finger with the knife. She stuck her finger in her mouth to stem the bleeding. Ranma watched, mere paces behind her, and let out a shuddering breath as his rampant imagination showed him images of Akane sucking on a different piece of anatomy, one to which he was intimately attached.

He couldn't help himself. He quickly closed the distance between them, and standing behind her, he gently pulled Akane's finger from her mouth, and placed it in his own. Akane was startled at first, but as Ranma braced for his coming doom, he was surprised instead to see a rather seductive smile spread across her face instead. "Well, what took you so long, Baka?" she asked.

Akane turned in his arms to face him, replacing her finger with her mouth upon his. Her arms drew around his neck and pulled him in tight. Ranma was so startled at this turn of events, that he didn't know what to do with his hands. He just kept waving them around as if signaling a boat.

Akane, who was trying to enjoy the kiss, let out a sigh of frustration. Keeping one arm locked around his neck so that he couldn't escape, Akane used her other hand to wrangle one of Ranma's and place it firmly on her ass. A firm "smack" emanating from the blow, and Akane gasped as the slight pain turned into something more delicious. She quickly decided she wanted to feel it again, so she grabbed his other arm and repeated the motion, this time letting out a small moan as his hand came in contact with her flesh.

Ranma was starting to come out of his surprise and started to return the kiss. Finally he had to come up for air, but his hands stayed right where they were. Akane could tell that he was going to have to be persuaded a little bit more. "Honestly Ranma, I've known you've been watching me for a few days now. Couldn't you tell from the bentos I've been making recently?" Her expression changed from frustration to a sexy smile when she saw the pieces connect in Ranma's mind. Quickly she reached down and pulled Ranma's tank top out of his shorts, and up his torso. It took him a moment to realize what she was doing, but he eventually lifted his arms for her.

As Ranma's chiseled chest came into view, Akane let out a shuddering breath. She reached out and touched one of his pectorals, rubbing his chest with a dainty hand. Her other hand reached up and grabbed one of his, placing it on her own chest, encouraging him to mimic her own actions. She let out a small moan as he started to explore without encouragement. Her other hand now free, Akane grasped at his hip, and started massaging. She nodded for him to copy her motions.

Ranma was having a hard time breathing. Sure his fiancées had all accosted him naked at one time or another, but never Akane. Never the one he wanted. Of course, now that it was actually happening, he was having a hard time doing anything other than what she was telling him was ok. Akane was trying to pull him in closer for another kiss, and he complied, making sure to continue his massaging. Akane's hand then reached down over his boxers and cupped his balls.

The action caused something to snap in Ranma, his nervousness all but gone as she demonstrated her desire for him physically. He moved his hand up from Akane's hip to the small of her back, and pulled her in close. Akane let out a small gasp as their naked chests pressed together, but didn't pull away. Hesitating for only a second, Ranma slowly moved his head in closer, angling to the side. His heart soared when Akane closed the distance, and kissed him firmly on the lips.

They continued to kiss for what felt like hours. Akane's hand migrated from Ranma's chest down to his hard buttocks, giving him a squeeze through his boxer shorts. She was pleased when she heard him give a small moan. Ranma's hands also snaked down to grab some ass, and even tried a small spank again to draw another enthusiastic response from the woman in his arms.

Finally Ranma couldn't wait any longer. Bending his knees slightly, he reached under Akane's butt and lifted her up onto the counter. Refusing to break the kiss, Akane quickly wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer. Ranma nearly burst a gasket when he realized that this meant she was opening herself up for him. This was really happening. He pulled away briefly to get a look at her face. She was breathing hard and blushing bright red, but didn't let go of his waist. If anything, she pulled him in tighter.

Ranma realized that were it not for the thin layer of cotton of his boxers, he would probably be hilt deep within the girl on the counter. As it was, he was pretty sure she could feel this erection pressed hard against her crotch. He gently reached up to her, and turned her chin to face him. "Akane…?" The meaning to his unworded question was clear. She smiled at him, and nodded, reaching down to gently tug on his shorts.

That was it. That was the green light he'd been waiting for. Still nervous, but feeling more and more confident, Ranma reached down and shimmied out of his boxers. He felt a shudder go through both of their bodies as he finally pressed firmly against Akane completely naked. Akane felt moist and hot against his cock, and he longed to follow his instincts and thrust in hard. As it was, he couldn't resist moving his hips slightly, rubbing up and down Akane's slit. His lover gasped at the motion, and started to move her hips in sync with his.

Ranma was content at the moment to continue the rubbing, it felt a lot better than anything else he'd done before. Akane however, seemed to have different plans. She briefly pulled away from Ranma, grabbed a handful of his cock, and pointed it at her sex. She smiled at him, and nodded her approval. Ranma tried to be gentle as he pushed in, but despite her wetness, she was too tight. He pushed harder, finally managing to force his way in. Akane bit down on his shoulder against the pain of first invasion, but soon they had a rhythm going, and the pain was overcome by intense pleasure.

Ranma was amazed at what he was experiencing. Never had he thought that he could feel something this intense. Not even pain. In fact, if he wanted to make this last any longer, he was going to need a break lest he blow too soon. He stopped his thrusting and instead concentrated on kissing and fondling his lover, moving down to her neck and breasts. Letting his hands roam all over her body, he tried to keep the heat going without letting it reach a climax.

Akane wasn't having it. She tried to keep thrusting even after Ranma had stopped. When she realized Ranma had stopped moving, she looked at him worried. "What's wrong? You didn't… already?"

Ranma looked up from Akane's chest at her slightly disappointed face and quickly shook his head. "No no! Umm… not yet at least. But…" He gestured meekly at the place their bodies were connected.

Akane nodded, understanding the unsaid problem. She pushed Ranma back, causing him to withdraw, then hoped down from the counter. "Maybe a change of position will help," she suggested before turning around and bending over the counter.

If anything, this new view of Akane was more erotic than what had been going on before, since it was the view he was used to seeing for the last few days. Ranma took a deep breath before putting his hands on her hips. He stroked his hands up and down her sides, caressing her torso and breasts, getting ready to start again. Akane responded to his ministrations positively with gasps and moans whenever his calloused hands rubbed across a particularly sensitive area.

Finally calmed down enough, Ranma pushed into Akane once more, and nearly went cross eyed with the sensation. Entering from behind felt completely different than from the front. Akane's hair was now coming into play, tickling his penis in a way that was going to make him blow even faster. "Ah, to Hell with it," he muttered, grabbed her hips, and started to pound. If it wasn't going to last long anyway, he'd at least make sure that it was enough to bring about Akane's orgasm.

Akane gasped out loud and started to moan even louder as Ranma picked up the pace. She lifter her hips up higher on the counter so that he could shove in deeper, her toes barely scraping the floor. Her breasts were resting on the cutting board, worn rough and chipped from many of her previous clothed attempts at cooking, it pulled and pinched at her flesh in delicious ways. Between that and Ranma's breakneck speed, it was enough to send her over the edge with a scream.

Akane's orgasm caused her to squeeze hard on Ranma's cock. Already close to his own orgasm, the tighter feeling on his rod caused Ranma to blow. He let out a groan as well, briefly harmonizing with his lover as they came down off of their peaks. He slowly withdrew from his fiancée, before picking her up off of the counter, and holding her close. The two exhausted lovers sat down on the cold tiled floor in each others arms for what felt like hours, trying to catch their breath.

Ranma was practically clutching Akane to his chest. He never wanted to let go. He could feel her every breath, her every heartbeat as she came down off of her high. He let out a contented sigh and laid a kiss on the nape of her neck. Akane turned her hear around and placed one of her own on his lips. Finally she broke the silence. "Lets go up to bed. Mine should be big enough for the both of us." Ranma nearly choked on his own tongue at the suggestion, but nodded and helped her stand. Akane playfully smacked him on the ass, before running up to her room, giggling as Ranma chased her.

***---***

Ranma woke the next morning with Akane in his arms snoring like a chainsaw. He tried to pull his numb arm out from under her head without her waking up, and winced when he heard her breathing change as she was startled into waking. She briefly stiffened as she realized that there was someone else in bed with her, but then remembered that he was invited, and instead turned over to crawl on top of him and laid a wet sloppy kiss on him.

Ranma eagerly returned the kiss as he shook his arm in order to encourage the blood to flow again. He helped Akane position herself more comfortably on top of his chest, reveling in the feel and weight of her body as she lay along his torso.

They kissed hungrily for a time, Ranma obviously ready to start another round, but he had one niggling question that just wouldn't let him enjoy himself until he knew the answer. "So, why do you need to be naked to cook?" he asked.

Akane pulled back, startled at the sudden change in subject. She blushed when she realized what he'd asked. "I got the idea from your mother actually." She laughed as Ranma's eyes grew big as dinner plates. "Well, sort of," she conceded. "She figured out that I was just overly nervous when I cook, about how I think it will turn out and how I think people will like it, and that's why I make so many mistakes. She reminded me of the old adage actors use for stage fright, 'imagine the audience naked.' Well, I kinda took that and reversed it. Instead of getting rid of the fear, I use it. I was afraid of being caught, and that fear became so overwhelming that I didn't have time to think about anything else." She paused for a second and blushed harder. Ranma noted that she was so embarrassed, her breasts were even starting to turn red. It was kind of arousing. "When I realized that you were watching, I was mortified at first, but at the same time, it turned me on. It kept me up all night the first night when I caught you. I didn't know whether to stomp you flat, or invite you over."

Ranma still wasn't sure what to make of all of this. Not that he was complaining of course. "So, um, what made you decide not to kill me?" he asked.

This question seemed to cause Akane more embarrassment then the last one. "Geeze Ranma, you don't make a girl say it first," she said, hitting his chest with a fist as she turned her face away from his.

It took a second, but Ranma Got It. He swallowed his own pride and embarrassment, turned her face to face him, and said it first. "I love you, Tomboy."

Akane teared up at his announcement, gave him another wet kiss, and replied. "I love you too, Baka."

The two lovers would spend the rest of the day in her bed, ignoring the knocking and repeated calls from their family.


End file.
